


A minute or more

by blanketspace



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Eventual Romance, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Happy Ending, I have no idea what I'm doing, Love Confessions, Romance, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-08 00:32:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10373670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blanketspace/pseuds/blanketspace
Summary: You gonna kiss her, Captain?Simple questions irritated him. Not because they were a testament to his inability to answer them or to lack of wherewithal that those around held him in, but they didn’t really need to be answered. Questions like that were better left unasked, meager vocalizations that should have been snipped on the tongue rather than given life with words. As anyone knows, words give way to thoughts and thoughts sometimes give way to less… Intelligent actions.





	

 

> _You gonna kiss her, Captain?_

Simple questions irritated him. Not because they were a testament to his inability to answer them or to lack of wherewithal that those around held him in, but they didn’t really need to be answered. Questions like that were better left unasked, meager vocalizations that should have been snipped on the tongue rather than given life with words. As anyone knows, words give way to thoughts and thoughts sometimes give way to less…  _Intelligent_  actions.  

Hence simple questions.  

It’s really a vicious circle.    

Yet it lingers in his mind as the battle is fought hard and won, as his bones tremble and muscles ache, pulsating vigor rounding off with a final blow of an ax down upon a machine’s head.  His palms are sweaty beneath the tanned leather of his gloves and the weapon falls neatly to the ground with a clunk.  Everyone else is like him in this moment, watching her – witnessing an act of god (if he had a mind to believe in such things), witnessing her being the hero of not just her own story but of theirs too.    

He doesn’t expect much of a look back in those moments, not as cheers fill the air, and her body slumps and trembles. She’s done so much, accomplished beyond what anyone had considered.  He knew she had it in her, especially after Ersa. No one had ever done him a service like that, the begging falling from his lips faster than mead from a cask, and she came. A little begrudgingly with a sigh and an eye roll, but she came.  How many others who stood upon the Spire could say the same (– probably all of them, actually. She had that effect, he thinks), could say that she pushed all her wary worries to the back of her mind, and for them?  

There is a level of guilt that rising in his belly at the idea still.   Knowing all this occurred, the shit with HADES – whatever the hell that thing was. Dead, all he knew, all he cared. Guilt over her stopping this grand mission that had it taken any longer, who knows where they’d be right now? Machine food, likely, a thought he doesn’t care to fancy over. He wants to thank her again, wants to stumble and murmur over words that had never been his strong suit. Oseram weren’t known for their poetry; steel and handcraft spoke what their mouths could not. And such as usual, she doesn’t give him the quarter to bare it, already strutting over with shaking tresses of dusk light and a sun-spotted smile.  

Her fingers pat against his shoulder in passing, warmth blooming along flesh covered by dusty armor. He reaches before she can remove, easy gesture to clasp a larger hand over her own, weapon callused though careful. “ – So, I think that satisfies your heroics for the day. ”  She laughs at him, lithe digits squeezing under his own and her body stills. Could someone be prettier after a battle? What an ache she creates in his heart without knowing it, part of it surely reverence, something to string his thoughts along in the murk.  

“ I’m sure someone will come up with something for me to do. But yeah, I would say so, ” she chirps back and he lets her hand slip from his shoulder.   

“ And Sun King Avaad will want to thank you, along with half the rest of the land. You might even hear a straightforward compliment from Blameless Marad. ”  Getting time with her after this might as well be a fool’s errand.  She’ll be a celebrity in the capital, a consort of fortitude to the royal Sun and his armed forces. Though her promise not to forget him and find time still rang true, he hopes as much.

Brows raise, a chuckle lighting behind her tone. “  _Only_  half ? ”

“ Well, you are a Nora savage after all, don’t get greedy, ” a jest and wink, he earns the punch of her fist into his arm. “ – hey, hey,  _ow!_  It was a joke.  Not a good one, I admit, but man, your punches hurt. ” Another smile and his knees quiver. It really brings out her freckles, the stretch of those lips dimpling into full cheeks.  And he can hear the soft heckling of his men in the background, little whispers of ooh’s and ahh’s – definitely not buying them a round now.

Pressure rides high on his arm, clutching already bruising bicep. It takes him a second to realize it’s her fingers, takes him a second to realize that he’s been staring at her mouth the entire time she continued the conversation too.  

“ Erend? You okay, you just kind of…  _Left_. Maybe that Deahtbringer hit you a little too hard. ”

“ Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I just… Was thinking. Dangerous hobby, I know. ” Great recovery.  

“ Do I want to know what about? ” He swallows thickly, shoulders shrugging, already missing the warmth of her hand when it drops from his arm. Why was she still here? Still talking to him when hundreds of people awaited her arrival, the telltale cry of victory to leave her lips that they had won? He should know better than to question it, eyes catching a glimpse of her other compatriots and companions lingering on the edges of the fray; the newly labeled Sunhawk scraping and prying off parts, triumph grunt and chortle off her lips. And that other Nora Brave attending to his tribesmen, carefully winding bandages and speaking in hushed tones. And he didn’t really even want to know where those two from the Shadow Carja capital got off to.  

“ Only if you got a minute. ”  

She replies quicker than he planned, “ I got two. ”

The vanguard snorts, recollection to a conversation he had long since thought she forgot fumbling to the surface.  Might as well get this over with, do it now, live a life filled with no regret and plenty,  _plenty_  of drinking thereafter. 

A hand finds the back of his neck, pulling against tense shoulders whilst he works over sentences and words. Gaze meets the steadfast, concerned expression of her face, nearly faltering. “ Listen, Aloy, I know that this is all a lot to take it and… Shit, I’m not particularly good at timing, you’ve seen me in battle and those less graceful swings… ”  _Moving off topic, moron_. “ – but before we, you know, part ways and maybe never see each other again, which sounds way more dramatic than it’s meant to be. I just need to say, man, I’m terrible at this... Look, I like you, like more than just your standard ‘ hey,  how are you ’. You’re pretty and you’re badass, you can definitely beat me in a fight and I’m not doing this right at all but  after all you’ve -- ” 

He doesn’t get to finish his thought, he doesn’t get to finish much of anything outside of letting a sigh leave his lips, lungs strangled for air.  Her lips against his, parted and sweet -- one of the few times and few ways he’s been happy about being silence, one of the few times that he’s felt warmth expand across his body.  

Bow callused fingertips grace across his cheek, grazing the line of his jaw, eliciting a shiver. There’s no time to return the kiss, not when he tries to duck his head down or place his hands along her middle, wanting to hold her close. She moves, quicksand beneath his fingers, dropping back away from his mouth -- he feels the fool to chase her, chin tilting and mouth searching only to find nothing.  

Both their throats clear.  

“ So..” 

“ So, that went better than I expected.” 

“ We’ll talk about this after the celebration? ” 

“ Oh, yeah, talk. Sure,  _talking_. I’m absolutely down for talking.” 

“ Erend! ”  Oh, she’s cute when she pouts. 

“ I said I’m okay with the talking. Wouldn’t mind a repeat of the  _not_  talking but ” her fist strikes his arm again. Laughter slips beneath the wince of pain that he’s all too happy to feel,  “ -- geez, Aloy, what part of that hurts don’t you get?  Ah, alright, alright... Talking. Just make sure to come and find me, you’ll know where I’ll be. ” 

“ At the bar? ”  He watches her move, gingerly shuffling away from him with a little twist. Rude. 

“ I’m really obvious, aren’t I? ” 

 “You wouldn’t be Erend if you weren’t. ” Her voice calls back, echoing against the wreckage surrounding them. Sturdy legs make to follow her, stopping to pick up dirtied, abandoned ax. 

A little groan whispers on his tongue,  “Gonna pretend that’s not remotely insulting.”  

They’ll have plenty of time later, he hums, to mull over lackluster confessions and simple actions begotten by simple questions. Erend smiles to himself, jogging after her and falling in step with the others on their march to present victory  

Plenty of time, maybe even a minute or more. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was prompted to me on tumblr per my own request, which feel free to send me requests there if you want (http://hrist.tumblr.com ). Honestly, it's been ages since I wrote any type of fanfiction so I'm ridiculously rusty on what constitutes a good story or anything of that nature. Writing RP for several years, you would think I have a knack for story telling but alas. I might do more of this pairing if people like it ( maybe make it into a series? ), so let me know what you think! This work did not have a beta.


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